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Future Tech
Trends, And What Small Caps Will Benefit From Them
By Glenn Wilkins -
AllPennyStocks.com News Reporter
February 14, 2008 (AllPennyStocks.com Media, Inc.) – It’s
impossible to predict anything, that old philosopher and
baseball player Lawrence P. Berra is alleged to have said,
especially about the future.
But if small cap investors aim for future growth and an
interesting portfolio, perhaps even Yogi himself would urge
you to look at several trends that are more in evidence these
days, trends investors of all stripes ignore at their peril.
One trend points to a leaning away from traditional fossil fuels. Alternative
fuels are coming to the attention of progressive thinkers the world over, and
those companies capable of bringing their products to a mainstream market – or
can forge alliances to help them do so – may well find themselves with the edge.
If those companies can harness the seemingly inexhaustible energy of the sun,
integrating photovoltaics into building materials, they will have applied a
technology thought problematic only a few years ago into something practical,
and possibly lucrative.
One such company is Solana Beach, California-based Open Energy Corp.
(OTCBB: OEGY), a renewable energy company focused on the
development and commercialization of a portfolio of technologies, capable of
delivering low-risk, cost-competitive electricity and fresh water and other such
commodities on a global basis.
Experts say the market for solar energy has grown by an average of 38 per cent
annually since 2000. By 2004, the solar photovoltaic industry was already a $6.5
billion industry (all figures in U.S. funds unless specified otherwise). Open
Energy, with green in its company logo (blue is the other colour) hopes to be
one of the industry leaders in making “green” energy.
The company offers building-integrated photovoltaic roofing materials for
commercial, industrial and residential markets, and holds the worldwide licence
to a solar thermal technology called SunCone™ CSP, now being developed to
generate potable water and distributed power.
OEGY may have been considered a bargain even last summer, when its share price
hit its 52-week high of 83 cents. The price shrank with much of the market, big
and small, until it plumbed 24 cents in late January. The stock traded around 40
cents in mid-February.
With more news coming to light about the development of the human genome and
what causes and prevents diseases within our bodies, another trend involves a
growing and aging population. The companies that will emerge out of the pack as
the leaders of this trend will be those mastering technologies that add to the
depth of life and not just the length.
A Canadian company at the helm of this trend is Vancouver-based Med Biogene Inc.
(TSX-Venture: MBI). This life science company is focused on the
development and commercialization of genomic-based clinical laboratory
diagnostic and screening tests for cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
Med BioGene’s lead product is LymphExpress Dx™, a genomic-based diagnostic test
for lymphoma. MBI is also developing tests for leukemia and cardiovascular
diseases through products known as LeukExpress Dx™ and CardioExpress Dx™. The
company develops these tests by identifying the genes, known as “biomarkers”
which indicate the presence of disease. The hope is to produce more personalized
medicines, leading away from the “one-size-fits-all” approach to managing
disease. The aim is for more accurate, quicker and less invasive diagnosis, for
the tailoring of treatment decisions to the needs of each individual patient,
thus making treatment more effective and reducing health-care costs.
MBI has spent recent months securing New Jersey-based JRG Ventures as its
strategic business advisor. JRG has helped forge partnering alliances with major
drug companies like Aventis, Bayer and Bristol-Myers Squibb, which will work
closely with MBI to help the growing company market LymphExpress Dx.
The price has seen a downward trend from a peak of 70 cents Canadian for the
last 12 months in March, to a current level of 16 cents Canadian. With more
positive news emerging from its expansion plans, and its bargain-basement price,
MBI could well attract more buyers in the months to come.
The third key trend involves what we now call “virtual reality”, of which the
computer-generated electronics field is putting out more sophisticated forms.
One of the companies jumping on this bandwagon is mPhase Technologies, Inc.
(OTCBB:XDSL), headquartered in Little Falls, New Jersey. The company
develops and commercializes next-generation media-rich entertainment software
and nanotechnology solutions. It also provides high-speed Internet access and
digital video delivery.
The latest developments out of mPhase concern a “smart” battery, capable of
producing current on demand after long-term storage. The company won an industry
award last year for a previous version of the “smart” battery and plans to bring
nanotechnology out of the lab and into the market with a planned innovative
life-long power cell.
With many of its marbles devoted to R&D, mPhase has felt the pain on the bottom
line, and stock prices have reflected this trend. The 52-week peak for the stock
price of XDSL registered at 27 cents last February, to sink to a low of four
cents in November. The stock currently sits around five cents, right where
value-conscious small-cap investors could see fit to scoop it up.
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